This invention relates to infants' feeding bottles and particularly to infants' feeding bottles which are provided with an indicating device such as a thermometer and/or a graduated scale for indicating the weight or volume of the contents of the bottle. Feeding bottles having indicator devices located exteriorly of the bottle are known to have the advantage of isolating the device from the interior of the bottle and, therefore, from the bottle contents. For example, if the exteriorly located indicating device breaks, its splinters or other parts will not enter the bottle and become mixed with the milk or other contents intended for the infant's consumption. Typically, in the prior feeding bottles of this type, the indicating device is adhesively bonded, or fused to the outer surface of the bottle or is otherwise formed integrally with the bottle. The bottle may be formed to define an external slot along the outer surface of the bottle which can receive and hopefully protect the indicating device from damage as well as to permanently hold it in place so that it cannot be lost or mislaid.
The prior devices are not free from difficulty. For example, where the indicator device is in the form of a thermometer or a graduated scale for indicating the weight or volume of the bottle contents, these devices typically are fragile and are sensitive to shock and high temperatures because they are made ordinarily from glass. Even with those prior devices in which the indicating device is permanently integrated with the bottle to provide some degree of resistance to impact and shock, their inability to be detached from the bottle presents problems when the bottle must be sterilized at high temperatures, for example, by boiling. In particular, the thermometer is not usually capable of withstanding the high temperatures of sterilization and could break or, if it does not break could later tend to give unreliable readings. In addition, the prior devices have not lent themselves well to inexpensive manufacturing techniques. It is among the primary objects of the invention to provide an improved infants' feeding bottle of the general type described which overcomes the above and other difficulties.